Finery closes its first year of trading with 5 million pounds in sales

Online female fashion label Finery has closed its first year of trading in good spirits: the retailer is to open concessions in six of John Lewis flagship stores and has just reported 5 million pounds worth of sales in its first year of business.

The fashion brand was set up last year by Caren Downie, a former fashion director at Topshop and buyer at Asos, Nickyl Raithatha and Luca Marini, Harvard University friends and former colleagues at German tech firm Rocket Internet.

According to Raithatha, the business has beaten expectations: “We are on the cusp of becoming mainstream,” he summed up the success of the young label.

Additionally, Finery will arrive at six John Lewis stores on February 12, in order to – as explained by label co-founder Caren Downie - fill a gap on the High Street, which was getting “progressively younger and more samey”.

The co-founder said that the move to John Lewis would help “accelerate awareness of our brand”. “It is important for us to be wherever our customers what to be and there will always be people that want to try clothes on before they buy.”

Finery’s move to have a physical presence is the latest example of a growing trend of internet-based retailers setting up shops to act as showrooms. In this regard, Raithatha said that there were no plans as yet for a standalone store but the business was working on other concessions which would allow the fashion brand to reach more customers.

Downie, considered one of the most influential women in British fashion, said she was inspired to start the company with the desire to combine quality and design with accessible price points, reports the ‘Daily Mail’.

Finery’s financial backers include Global Fashion Group which counts Swedish investment firm Kinnevik and Rocket Internet as its two largest shareholders.